A Bong's Kitchen

Childhood memories are hard to forget. Often I find myself filled with nostalgic thoughts from my growing up years back in Siliguri. Among other things, food memories are the ones that often come to me, hehe.Like it happened this morning when I remembered Roghu Kaku's luchi and alur dum that he used to sell outside our school premises on his bicycle. He used to be very popular for his alur dum around the area, especially we kids used to love his fare a lot. I remember how we used to wait anxiously for the bell to ring for the recess time, so that we could run to our school gate. He would be waiting already outside our school gate during the lunch hours. Those days used to fun. So this morning I decided to make kosha alur dum for breakfast to go with the luchis. I wasn't sure if I could replicate the same taste as that of Roghu kaku's alur dum but I tried and it came quite close to it. May be, the next time when I make alur dum, I will be able to make it taste exactly like Roghu Kaku's used to be.

Ingredients :

Potatoes -5 medium sized (boiled and peeled. Baby potatoes may be used too. We can poke holes in them with a fork to let the steam get into them nicely).
Onion - 1 (finely chopped or can be made into a paste)
Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Green chilies - 2-3 chopped
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Salt, as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Lemon juice, 1 tbsp (it is optional)
Mustard oil - 4 to 5 tbsp
Fresh coriander leaves - 2 tsp (finely chopped)

Method :

Heat the mustard oil in a deep bottomed pan and temper with bay leaf  and the cumin seeds. Once they begin to splutter, add the grated onion and saute them till they turn golden brown in color. Then add the ginger paste, garlic paste and the green chilies, saute them for a minute or two. Now add alur dum masala (equal amount of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, broken dry red chillies and black peppercorns dry roasted and then powdered) and salt and mix them all nicely. Fry this masala gravy on medium heat till it starts to leave oil from the sides. Now add the boiled potatoes, mix nicely with the masala and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Then adding a cup of water, stir nicely and let them to cook uncovered on low flame till there come no raw smell of the masala. The gravy should be thicker, so keep stirring every now and then to prevent it from getting stuck to the bottom of the pan. Now add sugar, lemon juice and garam masala powder, mix nicely and cook for another minute or so, then remove it from the fire. Garnish the alur dum with the chopped coriander leaves. It is now ready to be served with luchi, or porotha or even with steamed rice. I ate them with luchis, though not exactly like that of Roghu Kaku's luchi-alur dum, but they tasted very good.